Northstar Engines and System Technical Discussion Discussion, Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle in Cadillac Engine Discussion; Well as of 10-31-09 I've put over 4000 miles on it with no gasket issues. At first I was afraid ...

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

Well as of 10-31-09 I've put over 4000 miles on it with no gasket issues. At first I was afraid to floor it thinking it might cause another failure, but now I drive it however I want with no fear. Even if it fails on me today, I'm happy with the product. It saved me a ton of money.

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

I came across this board after searching endlessly for a solution to my problem. I hope this miracle in a bottle is exactly that. I have not had a chance to enjoy Kitty
Kitty, since I purchased her several months ago. After driving the car only x2 I began to smell a scent that smelled as if I had driven across the country, the engine smelled hot. NO signs inside or outside the car of trouble. The car ran like brand new, and looks like new. While backing out the drive one day I spotted white smoke coming out of the exhaust, not much but some. Than one day a huge spillage on the ground. After taking the car to several mechanics, one didn't even open the hood, I have been informed I need a new engine. Head gaskets, sealants blocks, coolant system......too much confusing information for me. The car has sat in the drive for months. I thank the Lord I had other transportation. I've priced motors from the salvage yards to Jaspers. The price of the motor and installation will cost more than what I paid for the car. So with all the homework and the information, I figure I cannot loose trying the miracle in the bottle. Please pray for Kitty Kitty.

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

well I tried your fix in a bottle and while I can say it took my 99 Deville from a just 5 mile around town car to a ride to work car every day 44 mile round trip mtn. roads. It has over heated one time, but It has saved me a fortune for now and I work in Advance and we don't carry it. So I contacted CRC and I ended up ordering online. I am going to redo one more time because I don't think I let it dry long enough. There is nothing there to stop up like your rad. and block!!!!! You would have to see this stuff and talk to one of their tech reps. to believe it. I've put over 1500 mile on it and feel very safe as long as I have a rear floor full of coolant. But seriously it does work!!!!

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

My 94 Concurs w/ the N* was purchased w/117k miles and a small coolant leak. It was priced cheap enough and not really knowing about the N* problems, I bought it thinking I could fix it and have a nice ride for 4 or 5 years. I’ve done plenty of overhauls over the years. A couple of hundred bucks for a rebuild kit and some shop time, no sweat. YA RIGHT!!!! The more I found out, the more I regretted the buy. I couldn’t find any one willing to even touch it. I did locate a couple of N*'s at a local yard, $800 to $900. Unfortunatly the motors were not the correct year and I found out interchangeability was out of the question. What to do? Try to recoup my cost by parting? Throw more money ($2,000 to $4,000) at it? Or spent the repair cost on a different car and not get my hands greasy? Well I opted to try the so-called miracle in a bottle fix. I did every thing exactly as the instructions stated. Before I used this stuff the car could idle for hours without O/H and I could drive the car around if I stayed below 35 mph and avoided any hills. BUT NOW…it overheats after 5min in the driveway. I’m so tired of buying Dexcool at $14 per jug just to have it go to the ground.
I’m starting to think about staging a lemon car bash, maybe charge a couple of bucks to take a swing at it with a sledge. I have been a Caddy lover for decades but this one is the biggest and pettiest piece of sh** ever put on the market. Everything about the car is designed to last 50 yrs except the GD head gasket/bolt failures at warranty expiration. Never again will I buy a N* Cadillac. Destroyer, You have it pegged right.

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

Originally Posted by submariner409

Because there's NO room to work, especially on the rear bank of cylinders. You might get the head off, might be able to do the machining and drop in the studs, but you'll never get that rear head back on. No way can you rotate the engine enough to get rear head clearance.

I agree there isn’t enough room to work on these engines but Jake has posted in other threads that he does his stud kit w/motor in car.
Perhaps by installing the studs and head at the same time. By inserting the studs in the bottom of the head and then double nuting the top of the studs might allow, after tilting the engine, the head to be positioned and then torque. Any thoughts?
How about it Jake, you going to share with us. You might change my mind about fixing my own N* nightmare.

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

Sorry, My bad. I must have confused other info. But still, if you can tilt the motor enough to remove the rear head why cant a jig and 90 deg. drill be used to tap new threads and re-install the head, gasket along with a stud set per my previous post. Anyone tried it?

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

Jake pulls the motor.... his "specialty" is that he pulls it out the top.

i never realised that, i always thought he did it theway i did mine, out the bottom!

You shoulda seen the look on his face when i told him i was gona do it again so i could pressure wash the engine and engine bay cause its dirty

Originally Posted by 83CADMAN

if you can tilt the motor enough to remove the rear head why cant a jig and 90 deg. drill be used to tap new threads and re-install the head, gasket along with a stud set per my previous post. Anyone tried it?

once the studs are in you are raising the effective required clearance by an amount equal to the length of the top of te stud.

Hmm unless maybe you screw the studs in with the head and gasket in place... but something tells me no... maybe the studs wont clear (they are kinda long?) and i woldnt want to do that anyway no way without seeing exactly whats going on.

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

Originally Posted by 83CADMAN

Perhaps by installing the studs and head at the same time. By inserting the studs in the bottom of the head and then double nuting the top of the studs might allow, after tilting the engine, the head to be positioned and then torque. Any thoughts?

If you can R&R the rear head by tilting the motor.....head bolt length=replacement stud bolt length.....either way you would have to pre-install the bolts in the head before fitting the head to the block.

Re: Sucessful Northstar head gasket repair in a bottle

Originally Posted by twinbopilot

It saved me a ton of money.

Originally Posted by twinbopilot

I own a 1999 Deville Concours with 146,000 miles.

Having that many miles on the engine, then filling the system with gobble-gook, you will likely have to opt for a rebuild rather than just a HG job when it fails. I would suggest selling the car while it still runs and moving on to the next.